Federal judge blocks Trump’s TikTok ban

A federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked U.S. President Donald Trump’s TikTok ban from taking effect as scheduled at midnight.

After attorneys for the video-sharing app argued in a telephone court hearing that Trump’s decree infringed on free speech and due process rights, Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted TikTok’s motion for a preliminary injunction against Trump’s ban, NPR reported.

Specifically, attorney John Hall characterized the app as a “modern day version of the town square” and argued that shutting it down equates to silencing speech.

TikTok claims more than 1 million U.S. users, NPR reported.

The move comes one week after a federal magistrate in San Francisco blocked a proposed ban of the WeChat app, citing First Amendment issues in the ruling.

While Nichols granted the injunction for the piece of the ban that was set to go into effect Sunday night, he denied a motion to halt a second aspect of the ban that is not slated to take effect until Nov. 12, The Washington Post reported.

TikTok filed for the preliminary injunction Wednesday, arguing Trump’s executive order laying out the terms of the ban was a “pretext for furthering the President’s broader campaign of anti-China rhetoric in the run-up to the U.S. election,” The Post reported.

According to NPR, Nichols' ruling means the Chinese-owned TikTok can operate without interruption at least until a full court hearing, a date for which has not been set.

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Cox Media Group